The Return of the Subspace Army
by Dopey Cats
Summary: “I will come back... I will take away the last of your hopes and shatter it...” —Tabuu
1. Prologue

_Day 125_

"Master Hand! Crazy Hand!" "What's the matter, Lucario? You seem frantic." "It's the Subspace Army! They're attacking!" "Send all the Veterans out to fight!" "But sir, the Veterans are injured and are still recovering! We can't risk it!" "Just do it! And evacuate all other Smashers!" "Yes sir!" "Brother, is this the end?" "I believe so." Master Hand looked up at the sky.

"Nice job, Veterans. You did good." Master Hand had congratulated the Smashers when they defeated Tabuu.

"Yeah, well we couldn't have done it without your help." Mario had said."Well, it's time for you all to go back to the mansion." "What about you?" Kirby had asked.

"I'm just going for a small stroll." "Okay." They all scurried away. He sighed. It had been a long day. Just as he was about to leave, he saw Tabuu move a little.

Master Hand instantly went into his fighting posture, in case things get messy. But instead of fighting, Tabuu gave Master Hand a warning.

"I will come back... I will take away the last of your hopes and shatter it..."

Master Hand had scoffed at the ridiculous phrase, but as he headed back to the mansion, he begun to wonder. Could he really do that...?

Blurry images filled Master Hand's mind as he woke up.

He could see the earlier event that had occurred, but it was so faint it all felt like a dream. He just hoped the Smashers were all right. Especially the Veterans. They were injured from the last disruption, but he still sent them out.

What if something bad happened to them? What if... they died? 'No.' He thought. 'Impossible. Smashers couldn't die.'

But what if they did? Then it would be disastrous. Without Veterans, how would all of them survive? And it would all be his fault. He sent them, even when they couldn't fight well. And they would all perish.

Because of one mistake.

Because of one order.

Because of him.

The thought alone gave him goosebumps. There's only one way to beat Tabuu. By reuniting the Smashers. 'But,' he thought. 'I'll need to find Crazy Hand first.'

 ** _Author's Note:_ This is my first time writing stories, so please be sympathetic! ;) This chapter is meant to be small, so don't be disappointed. I'll write more! Peace out!**


	2. Toon World

Crazy Hand was nowhere to be found. He searched everywhere, from the ruins of the mansion to the forest and etc. If only this was just a dream...

"Master Hand! Where are you?"

What? 'Is that Pikachu?' He thought.

The bush rustled when the small yellow mouse Pokémon appeared. "There you are!"

It was a miracle! Master Hand was so happy he could cry. "Are you okay? Are you hurt? Where are the others?" The Pokémon scratched his ear. "I'm okay. But when I woke up, I was alone."

Master Hand nodded sympathetically as he had experienced the same. "C'm on. Let's find the others." The two unlikely pair set of on their search to find the Smashers.

After a long time of search, they came to the border.

"Master Hand... do you think they might be Elsewhere?" "I don't know. The explosion was so big that it's possible they might have scattered outside of the border."

"But," Master Hand hesitated before saying it. "It's also possible that... that... that they died..." "What?!? I thought that Smashers don't die! ...do they?"

Everything was so confusing that this was also possible.

"Wait wait wait wait." Pikachu scratched his head.

"Let me get this straight. We fought the Primids before, right? So, Tabuu shouldn't have much of an army. But when they attacked us, I saw clearly that there were millions of them. So where did he get them?"

"I saw them too..." Master Hand said slowly. "But remember, Tabuu used the substances from Mr. Game and Watch's body to create the Primids..."

"Yeah, but Mr. Game and Watch was in his room these weeks. Unless..." "Tabuu took him while he was in his room." Master Hand finished.

"If Tabuu's recruiting Primids, then would he steal Meta Knight's ship again?"

"Probably, unless he's doing something else..." Master Hand thought again about Tabuu's warning.

"I think not." The two turned at the third voice and saw Toon Link dangling with his foot trapped in vines.

"Toon Link!" Pikachu happily scrambled up onto him.

"Hi Pikachu! Ow! Okay, you can get of me now." "Sorry." The Pokémon jumped back down.

"And why do you think that?" Master Hand asked.

Toon Link grinned. "Aw, come on Master Hand! At least be happy I'm still alive!"

"Yes, yes. Now tell us why you think so."

"Well, it's pretty simple. Meta Knight's been so alert after the last attack. Boy, you can't even go one mile near his ship!"

Pikachu scratched his left ear. "But these days when I see him he looks so tired. This is bad."

"Hmmm, you're right. This morning he looked close to collapsing. But I bet that Tabuu won't be able to steal it this time."

"So... can anyone help untie me?"

"Okay!" Pikachu jumped onto him and crawled onto his left leg. "One there, now turn it a bit and... done!" He scrambled back down and watched Toon Link fall to the ground.

"Ouch! That adds one more pain to my list!" Pikachu shrugged. "I guess we should've put a trampoline there first." Master Hand picked the cartoon version of Link up and threw him onto his back. "Now let's go."

"Go where?" Toon Link cocked an eyebrow. "Wait... you're not thinking about going Elsewhere, are you?"

Pikachu scurried onto Master Hand too. "Well, we've already searched everywhere except Elsewhere." "But who knows what lies there! Besides, how're we gonna get past the border?" "You probably don't want to hear this, but I have no idea." They both looked at Master Hand questionably.

Master Hand sighed. "Of course, I can't keep hiding from you guys forever. But there is a way..."

 ** _Author's Notes_ : Sorry guys! Another short chapter. I think I have... what was it called? _Writer's Block_. So, next chapter, I'll make it longer. Peace out!**


	3. Old Friends

"To Elsewhere we goooo, where the—" "Can't you both shut up?!?!" Master Hand shouted at them, irritated at the horrible singing. "You're just like my brother!!!!"

At that moment Master Hand immediately took back what he just said. Pikachu grew sad. "I miss Crazy Hand... He was such _fun!_ " "Don't think negative thoughts, Pikachu. We're going to find him and the other Smashers."

But he was comforting himself more than the other two Smashers. Pikachu glanced up at Master Hand. "You were the one who suggested that they might have died." "I said _might_ have. I didn't say they did. Pikachu, think. If we survived the explosion, what are the odds that they didn't?" "I guess you're right."

Then, Pikachu and Toon Link both yawned and soon fell asleep. Master Hand smiled and realized that he himself was sleepy too. But he decided to keep moving.

The rising sun shone on Master Hand as he went on while the two Smashers on his back slept peacefully.

While he walked on, Master Hand thought about the current events that had occurred. Perhaps if he hadn't been so careless, none of these would've happened.

...but what would happen if he didn't do what he did? Then things wouldn't happen. _Certain_ things wouldn't happen. But another thought bumped into his mind.

What drove Tabuu? Everything has a cause and effect. So what _caused_ Tabuu to change into the monster he is today?

He remembered about the Newcomers. Newcoming was always the highlight of their lives. There were big parties and also refreshments. Everyone loved meeting Newcomers. Especially when it was an old ally or enemy. Soon, everyone learned to cope with each other. Master Hand had even seen Samus and Ridley playing a game of chess together. It was the whole reason he brought so many people into Smash Bros. It wasn't so that there would be Brawl tournaments. He wanted them to learn how to work together so that everything would be one big machine. Without one, they couldn't keep working.

Thinking about the old times made Master Hand angrier. They lost everything, because of Tabuu!

Except one thing Master Hand wasn't quite so keen to think about.

Pikachu rose and stretched. "How long have we been asleep?" Pikachu yawned. "'bout one night." Master Hand told Pikachu. "Just as I thought. Hey, have you got any breakfast?" "No, but there's a clump of berries over there." "Excellent!" Pikachu scurried towards the bushes with berries and started munching noiselessly.

Toon Link snored. Pikachu ate. Master Hand floated down and rested.

While our three adventurers are occupied, you're probably wondering. _Aren't all the Smashers Veterans?_ That was before. Before certain Smashers decided to leave fighting behind their past. Let me tell you the story in a Smasher's perspective.

There were tons of Ceremonies. Of course, the Ceremony of Newcoming was always our favorite. But there were also speeches. It wasn't a kind of Ceremony, but we always look forward to the speeches. It was a time where Smashers can let out their feelings and most of us would listen.

But this afternoon turned into a disaster.

Noon was the Ceremony of Newcoming, which was strange, because we usually don't have Ceremonies on the day of the speeches. Everyone clapped hard, except for Samus who was angry that Master Hand and Crazy Hand had even brought in her worst enemy. Despite the fact that there was a giant fire breathing dragon who used to be our enemy, we all had a good time.

It was now time for the speeches. I usually don't really pay attention to the speeches, but some of them were pretty good.

Like for instance, one (that was Olimar) had his Pikmin stuck in one of his dirty socks. The speeches began, Smashers droning on and on about stuff. I was bored, and glanced towards the direction of my grandfather which for some reason is about the same age as me, so we often call each other brother or sister.

Well anyways, he was sitting with Ike and Meta Knight, and they were joking around. Marth had just grabbed Meta Knight's sword and he got shocked by a sudden strike of lightning. Ike was laughing his head off while Meta Knight took back his sword and glared at the burnt Marth. I chuckled at him and sighed.

I wish I could sit with them instead of with princesses who talk about people saving them.

Me, I can perfectly cope with it myself, thank you. After Olimar was done with another speech about his Pikmin thinking that the washing machine was a rocket and they all jumped in, Peach suddenly stood up, followed by Daisy.

"Peach and Daisy?" Crazy Hand asked. The two princesses didn't usually make speeches, so all of us were surprised. "We're going to make an important speech, so please listen closely." Peach said. The two of them glanced at Master Hand frighteningly.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Marth whispering something to Ike and Meta Knight slapping him. Everyone sat up straight and tall as Peach and Daisy took a deep breath.

"We're resigning."

"WHAT?!?!?!" Master Hand, who had been sitting calmly with a skeptical expression before, now was standing up, his chair knocked over, and by the looks of it, very, very angry, angry like never before.

Some of the princesses who were sitting with me looked at each other nervously. Meta Knight muttered to Marth and Ike, though I could hear very well what he was saying.

 _"This is not going well."_

I fidgeted in my place. Since there were no chairs, we all had to sit on the floor. The Newcomers looked at each other and moved farther away from the stage.

Nobody, _no one_ dared to resign. It was, as we were reminded every month, our job to be grateful having given form.

"Not really resigning," Daisy added hastily, "Just that we want a different role, rather than fighting everyday." "It is your job to protect Newcomers!" "There are plenty of other Smashers to do it!" "Now I regret having taken care of you!" "Since when have you cared for us Smashers?!?!"

Everyone took this as a cue to leave. The auditorium doors were instantly closed, but we could still hear the fight inside.

"YOU UNGRATEFUL BI—"

Even Crazy Hand left, and he was usually the one who stayed behind to help clean up.

No one dared to go inside the auditorium. It was three o'clock in the morning when the doors finally opened. Most of the Smashers had already gone to bed, but some of us chose to stay overnight and see the results.

Peach had a look of pure triumph, Daisy looking like she had fought in a war, Master Hand clearly still enraged at them.

"How'd it go?" Fox hurried towards them. Master Hand didn't reply and went straight to his office. Daisy also didn't reply and walked past us to the coffee machine. Peach, however, started chattering excitedly.

"It took long time but he finally said yes!" Peach squealed. "But," she added, "on one condition." "What is it?" We all leaned forward to hear. "Oh, it's between Master Hand and me." She giggled.

For days we pondered on what they agreed on.

"Maybe he kicked them out!"

"I think he told them to live outside."

"He's probably still angry at them, so I don't think it'd be something good."

I walked towards the direction of my 'brother'. The three of them were whispering among each other. "Hey, Marth!" I waved at him. When he saw me, he hastily said something to his friends and walked towards me. "Hi, Lucina. How are you?" "Good. Hey, do you think—?" I was cut off by an announcement from the speaker.

" **Smashers, please report to the auditorium now. I repeat, please report to the auditorium now. Thank you.** "

I looked at Marth and shrugged, then headed towards the direction of the auditorium.

It was already crowded when we arrived. To our surprise, Master Hand wasn't there. Everyone took their seats and sat down. "Hey, Lucina." Marth whispered. "Want to sit with me?" "Really?! Sure!" I happily skipped alongside Marth. Of course, I needed no introduction, as we all knew each other. Marth sat on my right side, while Ike sat on my left side and Meta Knight stood next to Marth.

Everyone stopped chattering when Crazy Hand went up the stage and announced. "Master Hand tells me to pass along his message, so here it is. He says that from now on, everyone will have different roles. Today you all will have to choose. These," Crazy Hand snapped his fingers and boxes appeared with labels on them, "will be your choices. And these," he snapped his fingers again and paper slips appeared in our hands with our names, "you put your own slip inside the box with the role you most want. That's all." Crazy Hand left from the stage and everyone started chattering again.

"Which one will you choose?"

"I think I'll choose..."

"This is hard!"

"Why did Master Hand make such a rule?"

"I'm pretty sure it's because of Peach and Daisy."

Ike immediately threw his slip into the 'Veterans' section. Meta Knight took a quick look at Kirby, then threw his slip into the 'Veterans' too. My brother followed them and threw his slip into the 'Veterans' box. I shuffled towards them and threw it into the same box. I looked at Peach and Daisy, and to my surprise, they looked bewildered.

At midnight, I snuck out of my room and saw that there was a thunderstorm outside. I decided to go outside and found Master Hand sitting on the front steps. Despite the rain, I sat down beside him.

"Master Hand... why'd you do it?" Silence. "Why did you make us choose?" "Do you know," he said hoarsely after a while. "How hard it was for me to give you all form? I didn't do it so you all would fight and compete in the tournaments. I—I did it for _him_. When he had gone, I did it in honor of him. So he could learn— so all of us could learn— that violence is not the answer for everything. That warfare is no more than a bloodfeast. But of course, he wouldn't understand. He thinks — as all of you think — that by fighting you could settle things. But he was a good friend. He was the only one who understood me." "He isn't the only one." I smiled at him. "Thank you for your sympathy, Lucina, but I don't think you understand me as much as he did." Master Hand opened the door and was about to go in when I stopped him. "Wait," I called. "What was his name?" For a split second, he looked truly happy, but it quickly went away.

"You know him best as... Tabuu." He answered coldly, then closed the door.

 ** _Author's Notes_ : Hi everyone! I thought I'd make it interesting if I added a bit of a twist in it. Hope you all like it! Peace out!**


	4. Old Friends (Part 2)

Me and Master Hand never spoke again after that. Instead, I took refuge inside the library, trying to find out about Master Hand and Tabuu's friendship. Each week I got more and more frustrated. There was nothing here about who created this world — nothing!

But one day, a certain book caught my attention. It was a particularly thick book, and it had no title.

It had a gleaming golden cover, and it was so beautiful that I stood still for a few minutes, mesmerized by its beauty, before coming back and opening the book. As soon as I touched the cover, I knew it was no ordinary book. And I was right — cramped between two pages, there was a small notebook, hardly visible.

After a huge amount of effort, I managed to pull out the notebook, and it fell open onto the desk. I gasped. On it was written in small letters were the words:

 _Day 22_

And below it:

 _Master Hand and I created a world called Smash. Though we had no plans as to what to do with it, it was still the best day of my life. We often joke around with it, but I was the only one who realized what it meant. We both had high ambitions, and it wasn't going well. We had different thoughts, and we all think it's **for the greater good**. _

I couldn't bear to read this page anymore. Instead, I flicked through the pages absently, but soon I realized that with each page, the sentences became shorter, the words lesser. I stopped at a random page and read a few short sentences.

 _We fought. Each had our own disagreements. After all, who wouldn't believe that their own plans were **for the greater good**? _

Here were the words again. Shaking my head, I continue to flick through the pages, until I got to the last page with writing on it. It had only one sentence, containing only two words, and there wasn't even a date.

 _I'm sorry._

Sorry for what? He could be sorry for anything. Like attacking us Smashers for example. For when I saw the first sentence on the first page, I knew it had to be Tabuu's. Wait. There was more.

 _But I had to._

You _had_ to? No one has to do anything. I turned to the last page of the notebook without thinking. On the last page, I saw one more sentence.

 _Goodbye, old friend._

Did I see that right? _Goodbye?_ Does that mean Tabuu is dead? Or did he move away or something? Maybe I'll go find Master Hand and ask him. But I don't think he'll talk to me. I pocketed the small notebook and stuffed the thick book into my bag. Or maybe if I...

Other Smashers who were sitting near me in the library edged away from me when they saw the look on my face.

I knocked three times on the door and waited patiently. I pulled out the notebook and started examining it more closely. I started walking back and forth and accidentally crashed into Marth.

"OUCH!"

We collided painfully and fell down. The notebook slipped from my fingers and landed near the door. After many sorrys and much muttering, Marth suddenly asked what I feared he would.

"What's that?" He pointed towards the notebook on the floor.

"Nothing." I hastily stuffed the notebook into my pocket and pretended to look innocent. "What time is it?" "It's 11 pm." Marth answered, checking his watch. "Aren't you getting to bed?"

"Arent _you_ getting to bed?" "Hm. I was going to. Well, 'night." He stifled a yawn and strolled away. I sighed in relief and glanced at the door to Master Hand's office. It _was_ getting late. I headed back to my room. I decided to read a few pages of the notebook before sleeping. But before I could do anything, something strange happened.

I grabbed the handle and pulled it open, then —

BOOM! The last thing I saw was the flickering flames overhead before everything went black.

Warm sunshine hit my face as I laid on the soft, evergreen grass. I sat up in an instance and looked around me. It looked like Smash, but something was weird about this place. It felt _new_ , like everything had just been born.

I stood up and walked forward and saw a mansion, just like our own, and like everything else here, it also looked new. I could hear raised voices within it. Cautiously, I opened the door to a crack and leaned forward to hear better until I could make out what the people inside were saying.

"She won't like this at all—" "You never know, she might've changed—" "I'm telling you, don't do it!" "Do you not want to change our past?" "Frankly, yes, but that's not my point—" "There's no other way to do it—" "You might die trying to do it—" "I don't care—" "Marie's going to kill me when she finds out—" "That's not my problem—" "What about the others?" There was a long pause at this, then a voice spoke rather stiffly. "They'll be okay." "No they won't, and you know it, the attacks haven't stopped—" "Look, it's none of your business whether I do it or not!"

The sound of footsteps alarmed me, I looked around wildly to find a place to hide, and luckily, an empty wardrobe was opened and I scrambled into it and closed the door just in time.

The doors slammed open and out came a furious looking figure. I stifled a gasp: it was unmistakably Tabuu, except he was much younger, and he didn't look so battle-hardened.

Once he had turned around a corner and disappeared, I slowly opened the door and crept out, which I shouldn't have done.

The doors opened again and Master Hand came out, and, like Tabuu, he was also much younger. Immediately I realized my mistake and started to apologize.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—" But he gave no signs of seeing or hearing me. In fact, he completely ignored me and went after Tabuu. At this point I knew that I must be inside some kind of memory. Suddenly, everything swirled around, and everything blurred.

I landed in a room full of books. At once I spotted Tabuu: he was sitting in a chair and scribbling furiously onto a small notebook. One look told me that it was the same notebook I had found crammed inside the book. _The book._ God, I was so stupid. Why didn't I realize at the time?

Tabuu paused for a moment, stared at the window, then continued writing. And it happened again. The room swirled around, along with me, until it cleared away.

This time I ended up outside of the room Tabuu was in, and I could hear a voice I didn't recognize.

 _'Accept my help, and all can be changed.'_

I wrenched open the door and saw a small but visible jewel, with beautiful colors swirling inside it, and Tabuu staring at it.

 _'Just grab hold of me and I will be able to help you.'_

It took me a few moments to realize that it was the gem talking. When I finally realized that, it was too late. Tabuu stretched out one hand and was about to close around the jewel, when I couldn't resist myself and shouted out stupidly:

" _No!_ "

But I was not the only one who did. The door was ajar, and there were four more people standing in the room now. One of them was Master Hand, looking rather pale. Then there was a girl whom I have never seen before, furious and scared at the same time. And there were also two familiar faces, but it could not be...

"Tabuu, what were you thinking?!" The girl shouted, tears streaming down her face as she spoke. The other three, however, were too shocked to speak.

Tabuu looked at them with an expression that surprised me. Master Hand seemed to have came to his senses and sprinted forward to stop him.

It was as though everything happened in slow motion. Tabuu mouthed the words that were repeated on the notebook, and before Master Hand could do anything, he closed his fingers onto the gem.

I saw one last glimpse of the four: the girl was sobbing uncontrollably, Master Hand was still staring at the spot Tabuu vanished, and the other two were comforting the girl, though they too looked uncomfortable. Then there was a blinding flash of light, and everything was gone.

 ** _Author's Notes:_ Wooo. Another short chapter. You know, I'm starting to run out of ideas. And you're all going to just sit there laughing your heads off. Ha ha. Very funny. So long.**


	5. Author’s Notes (while freaking out)

Me: (about to publish chapter) (sees comments) WHY DO EVERYONE WRITE STUFF LIKE THAT?!?! It's always like: _Oh, you should do this, that makes the story better, I'm totally not discouraging you._ If I see another comment like that, I'll freak out.

Wait. (Checks comments again)

THAT'S IT I'M NEVER WRITING A STINKIN' CHAPTER/STORY AGAIN.

AAAAARRRRGGH


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